By Sherry Qin


Chinese property shares surged on Monday after a major city in southwest China relaxed its curbs on home buying, raising hopes that more Tier-1 cities including Beijing and Shanghai, will soon follow suit.

Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan province, on Sunday, said that effective April 29 it would no longer review homebuyers' qualifications. The city, with a population of over 20 million, is the latest to join a growing list of Chinese cities, including Suzhou and Nanjing, to scrap home-buying curbs.

Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index, a gauge of performance of Chinese property stocks, rose 4.7% on Monday. Longfor Group rose 9.1%, China Vanke surged 18% and Shimao Group was 41% higher.

Morningstar analyst Jeff Zhang said that the removal of buying curbs in Chengdu lifted investor sentiment and could drive more investment demand in the city, given its more resilient home prices compared with other cities.

Analysts expect more Tier-1 cities to gradually ease buying restrictions to boost housing transactions.

The fact that Chengdu, which has one of the strongest home sales in China, relinquished all home-purchasing requirements has raised market expectations for other Tier-1 cities, Daiwa property analyst William Wu said.


Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-29-24 0152ET